BIDS Trading, the newly formed alternative trading system (ATS) for the U.S. equity block trading market, is now connected to three new electronic trading platforms – Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, JPMorgan’s Neovest, and Morgan Stanley’s Passport.
Institutional investors are now able to anonymously trade large blocks of US equities through these connections via the BIDS ATS. Sponsored buy-side firms can now join sell-side firms in executing block trades on the BIDS ATS.
Volume on the BIDS ATS has been steadily growing over the last few weeks and daily volume passed 20 million shares on five separate days in July.
"We are committed to offering the broadest access to cutting edge liquidity providers," says Carl Carrie, global head of algorithmic products, Neovest. "Linking up with BIDS Trading is an exciting new development and one that will surely benefit our clients in this highly fragmented marketplace."
"BIDS Trading has proven to be a viable dark liquidity pool with potential for further growth," says Bill Neuberger, global head of product development, Morgan Stanley Electronic Trading (MSET). "We are very pleased to add a direct connection to the BIDS ATS from Passport, to complement the indirect access to BIDS Trading already provided by Passport's dark pool aggregator, NightVision," he continues.
"We are continuing to build considerable momentum as new users connect to the system," comments Tim Mahoney, CEO, BIDS Trading. "Having three of Wall Street's leading electronic trading platforms now connected to the platform moves us closer to our goal of allowing open access to all market participants - both the buy- and sell-side - while creating the most efficient trading venue and the deepest liquidity pool possible," he adds.
In addition to allowing open access to both sell-side firms and their sponsored buy-side firms, the BIDS ATS is open to algorithms, hedge funds and program traders. BIDS Trading offers customisable tools to empower end-users to successfully negotiate trades. Information disclosure and minimum block size is controlled by the trader and users can choose who to trade with based on past trading behaviour.
The BIDS ATS is accessible to all qualifying broker-dealers and their institutional clients, subject to basic credit and regulatory considerations. Use of the system as a block trading service is not exclusive or subject to volume commitments and each participant may continue to use any ATS, ECN or exchange service that supports the trading needs of its customer base.